Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo rock Plymouth

jaymiller

Thursday

Jun 21, 2018 at 4:52 AMJun 21, 2018 at 5:51 AM

Pat Benatar's voice and star power is intact, at least if you asked any of the 900 or so fans who filled three-quarters of Memorial Hall in Plymouth on a Wednesday night to hear the rocker and her husband/guitarist Neil Giraldo deliver a 90-minute 'acoustic' show that was sizzling throughout.

Benatar had her biggest days on the charts back in the 1980s, when she seemed to be the perfect embodiment of what MTV and a generation of teenagers thought a female rock star should be; a gorgeous vixen with fiery eyes who looked utterly dazzling in black leather jackets, yet had vocal ability and range, and a knack for choosing songs that were smart, dynamic and melodic.

Most of the fans in Memorial Hall looked like they'd been around for Benatar's 1980s heyday, when she had 19 top forty singles, and five platinum albums and three more that went gold, along with four Grammy Awards. Benatar herself is now 65 (how is that possible?) but looked just as fine as ever in her pageboy haircut, while husband and collaborator Giraldo, in black shirt and black jeans, with a full head of silver hair slicked back, looked every inch the rock 'n' roll lifer he is.

The format for this tour has the duo performing acoustically, which means that Giraldo's amplified acoustic guitar was the lone instrument on most tunes, and his work tended towards rhythm guitar with his lead lines brief and subtle. On a handful of songs Giraldo played piano to good effect, and probably half a dozen numbers were augmented by rhythm tracks, a bass-and-percussion type of backing. All of that worked okay, but it placed more emphasis on Benatar's vocals, and she was certainly up to the task. If she's lost any of her marvelous range and power over the years, you couldn't tell it from Wednesday night's performance.

The only shortcoming to the sound was that Memorial Hall's high ceilings and vast expanse tends to lead to a booming, echo-y kind of sound, and oddly enough that seemed to be most evident when the duo was talking between songs, adding some historical detail to their program. For the most part though, the sound was solid enough to enjoy all those classic hits.

The show started promptly at 8 p.m.–a weeknight show for working folks, after all–with Benatar's kinetic 1988 hit “All Fired Up.” But it was during the night's second song, “We Live For Love” from her 1980 major label debut album, that Benatar really hit some thrilling high notes that had the audience erupting in loud cheers. After that song, the couple explained how they'd met when both were 26, and had been married since 1982. Giraldo played a wistful kind of piano intro, before shifting back to his guitar for an invigorating charge through 1981's “Promises in the Dark.”

The two rockers noted next that they'd had some recent milestones, as one of their daughters had been married, and they are soon about to become grandparents. Benatar said she'd like to dedicate the next song to those expected grandkids, and “Run Between the Raindrops” was a pretty, midtempo ballad. It is of course, a measure of her skill, that she can handle a more nuanced tune like that just as well as the surging rockers like 1984's “We Belong,” which came next.

Benatar and Giraldo have tried to explore different sounds and styles over the years–New Englanders fondly recall her 1991 swing album with Roomful of Blues–and the next song evoked those other directions. “In These Times” began as a quiet acoustic ballad, but amped up into more of a folk-rock framework, with a really compelling flow to it. Benatar noted that back in 1981 her rockin' cover of The Young Rascals' “You Better Run” had been the second video ever played on MTV, and last night's rendition showed the song's gritty blues roots.

Giraldo played smoothly melodic piano for the stately ballad “After the Fall,” and the tinge of regret in Benatar's voice gave it just a hint of soul. Giraldo referenced Bo Diddley before “Ties That Bind,” and his guitar work surely evoked that old rock master.

But that all seemed like prelude when Benatar and Giraldo uncorked “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” her best-loved hit from the 1980 'Crimes of Passion' album that won her first Grammy. Driven by Giraldo's surging guitar lines, Benatar's hit became a massive sing-and-clap-along. Giraldo then noted that one song started as one thing and became something quite different, before launching into a long and melancholy piano intro. As Giraldo got up, grabbed his guitar and activated the rhythm loops, Benatar unleashed her most impassioned vocal of the night, on the 1983 hit “Love Is A Battlefield.” There were dozens of fans singing along and cheering throughout that one, and females all over the arena dancing in the aisles, as Giraldo brought it home with an extended riff.

For their encore segment, Benatar first explained that they normally eschew politics, but she wanted to salute Governor Charlie Baker for recalling the National Guard troops from border duty, and judging from the roar of the crowd that is a popular view. Benatar, with Giraldo at the piano, then did “Shine,” a ballad she sang for the 2017 Womens' March, and it's a subtly affirming song of empowerment that she handled well. Giraldo donned a 12-string guitar for the robust rock march, “Disconnected,” a song whose lyrics have some tart commentary.

The night ended with an extended romp through Benatar's first big hit, 1979's “Heartbreaker,” where she was able to just point at the audience and get them to sing the chorus perfectly. In the middle of that tune, Giraldo shifted a bit and inserted Johnny Cash's classic “Ring of Fire,” as the couple swapped verses to great comedic effect. Then the duo switched again, and alternated verses on “Don't Slander Me,” before flipping the medley back to “Heartbreaker” for a rousing finale, that earned a standing ovation from all sections of the venue.

Benatar and Giraldo will appear at The Cabot Theater in Beverly on Thursday night; and the Ridgefield (Conn.) Playhouse on Saturday night; and then the Mahaive Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington on Monday night.